{"id":103559,"date":"2025-05-15T12:59:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T12:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/103559\/"},"modified":"2025-05-15T12:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T12:59:12","slug":"urban-schoolchildren-more-likely-to-have-autism-than-those-in-rural-areas-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/103559\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban schoolchildren more likely to have autism than those in rural areas \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/tags\/autism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/tags\/autism\/\">Autism<\/a> rates among school-aged children in the north are almost two times higher in urban areas compared to rural regions, new data has revealed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A report published by the Department of Health on Thursday showed that for the 2024\/25 period, and based on the Northern Ireland School Census, 5.9% of school-age children have an autism diagnosis, including Asperger syndrome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">However, 6.9% of children in urban areas have been diagnosed with autism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">In rural areas, the figure is 4.4%, while a breakdown of rates by health trust area also showed the stark difference between each trust\u2019s urban and rural areas.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/northern-ireland\/a-thank-you-might-have-been-in-order-lets-go-hydro-owner-hits-back-at-claims-from-parkrun-group-TSQEV3CXTRBLPAJOTMQKGLUC5M\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"&#x2018;A thank you might have been in order&#x2019;: Let&#x2019;s Go Hydro owner hits back at claims from Parkrun group\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/TTCLQ7KIA5BVXNQAD5KXV6YR7A.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/northern-ireland\/m1-closed-near-belfast-following-crash-MNLWSPMR6JDF5OJAUT5LQTRPHM\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"M1 closure near Belfast following crash causes major delays\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/O4L37AWBYJB7BGNQJRKNEF5LRM.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The health trust area with the highest rate is Belfast, at 8.2%, while the lowest is in the Southern Trust region, at 3.8%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Boys are 2.5 times more likely to have a diagnosis than girls, while a striking inequality gap is also highlighted in the report, with autism rates almost 38% higher in the north\u2019s 10% most deprived areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Referring to historical rates relating to deprivation, the report highlights how in the years prior to 2013\/14, rates were \u201cslightly higher\u201d in the least deprived areas compared to the most deprived.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cHowever, since then the rate of autism amongst children in the most deprived areas has increased at a faster rate than in the least deprived.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThis has resulted in higher rates of autism being seen in the most deprived areas and a widening of the deprivation inequality gap,\u201d the report adds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Meanwhile, across the north, the school age with the highest rate of autism was Year 8, at 7.9%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The report notes a \u201csteady rise\u201d in autism from P1 up to Year 8.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">It states: \u201cThis trend has been observed in previous years and may link in with children being diagnosed with autism during their early school years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Autism is a spectrum that can range in severity, and the report states that 18% of children in the north with the condition do not have any special educational needs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">However, 63% have a Stage 3 Statement of Special Educational Needs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The data shows an overall rise in autism rates in children since 2008\/9 when the rate was 1.2% to today\u2019s 5.9% rate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Autism rates among school-aged children in the north are almost two times higher in urban areas compared to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[663,4348,1144,857,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-103559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-autism","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-schools","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114511974607457242","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}